Subj : August 12th - Bl. Maurice Torney To : All From : rich Date : Sun Aug 11 2019 08:28:36 From: rich August 12th - Bl. Maurice Torney Maurice was born into a family of poor farmers known for their faith and love of neighbor in Orsieres in the canton of Wallis, Switzerland, on August 31, 1910. Having reached the end of his secondary studies, the young man applied for admittance to the Canons Regular of Great St. Bernard. He wrote his intent to the provost of this congregation: =C2=ABTo correspond to my vocation, which is to leave the world and devote myself completely to the service of souls so as to lead them to God, and to save myself as well.=C2=BB Providentially, the Foreign Missions of Paris had just appealed to the Congregation of Great St. Bernard to send to the Himalayas some religious accustomed to living in the mountains. After considering the request, the provost, Msgr. Bourgeois, decided to comply, and a first group of religious left for Weixi in Yunnan (southwest of China) in January 1933, but Maurice was not among them. In January 1934, doctors diagnosed an ulcer in Maurice's duodenum that required surgery. He had a long convalescence. This experience of suffering brought him to encourage his parents and his brothers and sisters to make better use of this too often unrecognized treasure of suffering endured in union with the suffering Christ. =C2=ABDo you know,=C2=BB he wrote to his sister Josephine, =C2=ABthat when you are cold and you offer this cold to the Lord, you can convert a pagan? And that all the well-endured sufferings of one day earn you more merit than if you had prayed all day long? What an easy means you have to do me good, to do the whole world good... All our littlest sufferings have infinite value if we unite them to Christ's sufferings. Oh, how Christ would love you then!=C2=BB On September 8, 1935, the young canon made his solemn vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Msgr. Bourgeois then decided to strengthen the team of pioneers in Yunnan. Canon Tornay, recovered from his surgery, was to leave in the company of his confreres, Canons Lattion and Rouiller. Over the course of several months, all three trained to alleviate human suffering, taking courses with a doctor and a dentist. Before the date set for their departure, Maurice opened himself to his brother Louis: =C2=ABI have clearly received the following intuition in my soul--for my ministry to be fruitful, I must work with all the ardor in my soul, for the purest love of God, without any desire to see my labors noticed. I want to exhaust myself in the service of God. I will never return.=C2=BB The next year he left for East Asia to serve in the missions.=C2 The congregation had been entrusted with the pastoral care of the border regions between Tibet and China and the missions into Tibet. It was there that Maurice was to both assist in the proclamation of the Gospel as well as prepare for the priesthood.=C2 The center of the missions was the city of Weisi in China. On April 24, 1938 Maurice traveled to Hanoi in Vietnam where he was ordained to the priesthood. Seven years he spent there leading a small seminary.=C2 In 1945 he became pastor of Yerkalo, the only parish in Tibet.=C2 From the start he exposed to the hostility of the Lamas and Buddhist monks, who through lies, insults and violence finally drove him out of the parish and compelled the Tibetan Catholics to renounce their faith.=C2 He tried to secure from the Tibetan government a policy of tolerance and undertook a journey to Lhasa for this purpose.=C2 But the Lamas ambushed him along the way and murdered him on August 11, 1949 near Choula gorge.=C2 His remains rest in Yerkalo.=C2 Pope John = Paul II beatified this modern martyr on May 16, 1993. Saint Quote: And we ourselves experience this, that when we enter ornate and clean Basilicas, adorned with crosses, sacred images, altars, and burning lamps, we most easily conceive devotion.=C2 But, on the other hand, when we enter the temples of the heretics, where there is nothing except a chair for preaching and a wooden table for making a meal, we feel ourselves to be entering a profane hall and not the house of God. --St. Robert Bellarmine Bible Quote 1 The wise men will seek out the wisdom of all the ancients, and will be occupied in the prophets. 2 He will keep the sayings of renowned men, and will enter withal into the subtleties of parables. (Ecclesiasticus 39:1-2) <><><><> 17. Even little actions are great when they are done well; so that a little action done with desire to please God is more acceptable to Him, and gives Him more glory, than a great work done with less fervor. We must, then, give particular attention to perform well the little works, which are easiest, and are constantly within our reach, if we wish to advance in friendship with God. --St. Francis de Sales St. Ignatius said of a lay-brother who was a mason that he wrought for himself in Heaven as many crowns as he laid bricks or gave strokes of the hammer, on account of the pure and upright intention with which he animated these works. It is told of St. Francis Xavier that he was very careful to do little things well, and that he used to say: "We must not deceive ourselves, for he who does not take pains to excel in little things, will never do so in great." (Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints".=C2 =C2 August: Diligenc= e) --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .